NRC’s Magwood Backs AP1000 Reactor Design for Majority Vote

Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
member William Magwood joined two colleagues in voting to
certify the AP1000 reactor from Toshiba Corp.’s Westinghouse
Electric unit, providing the majority needed to back the design.

Magwood voted Dec. 6 for approval, according to a notice
from the agency today. Southern Co. of Atlanta and Scana Corp.
of Cayce, South Carolina, plan to build AP1000 reactors near
existing plants.

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko and Commissioner George
Apostolakis had also voted to certify the reactor design. The
full commission hasn’t scheduled a vote on the final
certification rule, a step that will let companies buy the
AP1000 reactor.

The commission is weighing separate rules to improve safety
at U.S. reactors after an earthquake and tsunami in March
triggered meltdowns and radiation leaks at Tokyo Electric Power
Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.

“As we develop a regulatory response to Fukushima, it is
certainly possible that some changes may need to be made to the
AP1000 or at least to any” licenses that reference it, Magwood
said in comments attached to his vote.